The Skipper

It’s more than that. It sends a message to the world that one of the best players on the planet still wants to be here - Hazard being here is an attraction for not only just fans, but players too.

Exactly. The fact that the manager hasn’t binned him after some really bad performances means we should probably do the same and give Bakayoko at least a season or so to get acclimated to the PL. I’d be far more worried if he was at this level at let’s say, age 27/28. He still hasn’t played anywhere near his Monaco level, so he needs to focus on getting back to there (that’s the player we paid £40m for), and then build on from there.

Yup I agree, needs good time on the bench. Like Conte said, club placed a bit too much faith on him to deliver instantly, and we should’ve kept someone like Matic ahead of him to slowly integrate him into the team. Good thing is that Conte is being patient with him right now.

Fabinho wasn’t available at £40m though. Was heavily linked with Utd too but he’s still at Monaco. I reckon he’d cost closer to £60m/£70m in today’s market which we know the club would never spend.

Would you still say Liverpool aren’t a team we should worry about if they continue to spend like this?

Right. Sanchez and Sandro next. Hazard Morata Sanchez Sandro Kanté Barkley Moses Rüdiger Christensen Azpi Courtois Bet that would make Eden stay ^.

Need to get one. Flames ain’t the word.

Good player but we don’t really need a CB. We have the best set of CBs in the league.

Seeing this narrative that we robbed them off £20m because we waited with Barkley till after his injury to sign him. Pathetic.

It’s quite funny, the Lampard comparisons. Lampard’s signing at the time (at a very similar stage in their careers actually) had divided a lot of Chelsea fans as well. Lampard was a talent at that time too. Then prime Jose Mourinho helped him become one of the best on the planet. If Barkley offers the same hard work and commitment (Conte’s favourite words) that Lampard did, he’ll at the very least be on the right path to becoming a player worthy of starting here.

£15m. And as soon as he signs, his value will immediately increase to let’s say £25m/£30m. If he had 2 years left on his contract he’d be costing us about £40m at least from Everton imo.

If we must buy an injury prone English substitute striker, why not just bring back Sturridge?

Not necessarily. If Fabregas can play in the 343, surely Barkley can as well.

Basically trying to rationalise that the club surely isn’t that crazy to buy Carroll but then again, we have done a madness before.

I can’t think of a good striker available this January that’d be willing to come here to sit on the bench. Would love like an Anelka-esque signing but my mind’s blank.

Aren’t they all just quoting the Sun? David Moyes literally came out today and said he hasn’t heard anything about it. He would obviously not be a nice signing but just trying to bring some calm to the page I guess.

Just to add - Barkley would probably have a good chance at starting at United/Spurs too.

Literally one rumour from The Sun (lmao) and people are taking that we’re signing Carroll as a fact?

Coincidentally, these guys will cost at least £50m, probably more because it’s January. For £15m it’s fine. We aren’t going to sign guys like Torreira, SMS, Lemar etc. in January for a reasonable price. All these teams will look at us signing Bakayoko and DD at £40m each and they could easily say “look, you signed these two for that price so we need at least £10m more”. You guys should’ve been angrier about the Drinkwater signing. He’s a good player but he doesn’t bring anything different to the squad, not at £40m anyway. Chelsea have been after Barkley for years as well.

Nope. Disagree. Let’s compare. City have: KDB, Silva, Gundogan, Toure, Fernandinho, Delph. Utd have: Pogba, Matic, Fellaini, Herrera, Carrick, McTominay. Arsenal have: Xhaka, Ramsey, Wilshere, Coquelin, El Neny, AMN. Spurs have: Dembele, Winks, Wanyama, Sissoko, Dier. At Chelsea we’ve now basically got Kanté, Fabregas, Barkley, Bakayoko, Drinkwater as our CM core. I’m personally only definitely taking City’s CM core over ours. The rest are all worse/debatable. We arguably have the 2nd best CM core in the league.

The best thing about it is the price. He comes in with a lot less pressure and nowhere near as many expectations, and that will help him get into things a lot easier.

A £40m worth addition? So far, I think not. He isn’t going to improve by much either. Relatively getting older (28 this year). He’s not a bad player but there’s just no upside.

He does improve the team though tbh. We don’t have a player of his profile and he is actually a good player that has room to grow. People forget he’s still only 24.

Also, I’d be much more comfortable with a Barkley/Kanté pivot than a Cesc/Kanté midfield. At least Ross is an athlete.

Apparently Levy was going to leave it till the summer but we wanted to wrap it up ASAP so Barkley has gone for us.